CCMB scientists develop genetic toolkit to shine light on TB’s inner workings

Scientists at CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) created a collection of 40 new shuttle vectors equipped with fluorescent markers, which make proteins glow under a microscope. | Photo Credit: GETTY IMAGES

A powerful new genetic toolkit that could make it easier to study the bacteria responsible for Tuberculosis (TB), one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, has been developed by Vinay Kumar Nandicoori, Director of the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB).

Investigate how different proteins work together

Designed for use in mycobacteria, the new system could accelerate efforts to understand how the TB bacterium survives, grows and causes disease. It gives scientists tools to switch genes on, track proteins inside bacterial cells, and investigate how different proteins work together.

Despite decades of research, many genes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes TB, remain poorly understood. Scientists typically rely on specially designed DNA molecules known as ‘shuttle vectors’ to introduce genes into bacterial cells and study their functions. However, the complex protein interactions within a cell are difficult to monitor.